Rust is Thicker than Once Believed (game 2)
After I got done getting the snot pounded out of me in the first game of the day, I got ready to throw down again.
I brought the same list to the Khador players table. He dropped this on my head:
The Butcher of Khardov (*6pts)
* Conquest (19pts)
* Juggernaut (7pts)
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Manhunter (2pts)
Widowmaker Marksman (2pts)
Yuri the Axe (3pts)
This time, He takes first turn, and trundles up the board. His conquest was dead center supported by Kayazy and battle mechanics, with Doomreavers on my left and Widowmakers supported by Yuri and a Manhunter. I dropped the Banes front and center with the Kraken behind them, put the arcnodes wide to each flank with a Warwitch Siren to support them, and the Scarlock and Withershadow to the rear.
I ran everything into position across from him, trying to get good leverage on his units. I shot at the Kayazy with the Kraken, scattered onto only the Underboss, boosted damage, and he toughed it out.
I could tell it was going to be that type of game.
Turn 2 was more of the same. He toes Conquest into the zone, drops the Butcher behind him, and runs the Doomreavers nearly into my deployment zone. The Widowmakers run in to engage the arc node over on their flank, with Yuri and the Manhunter moving into position to threaten the Coven.
killbox is a nasty, nasty game.
This next turn I go all in. I Veil of Mists over the screening Kayazy, enabling a charge for the nearly full unit of bane knights into the Conquest. I activate the arc node, Ghost Walk it and run it over within 8″ of the Conquest to allow me to arc Curse of Shadows. I Activate the second Coven member, and toss curse out, easily hitting.
Charge in the banes!
I grab the first one and measure out the charge. The one closest to Conquest is only just in. The rest run and charge, but I only get four to actually get attacks on Conquest. I fan out and try to engage as much as possible of the Kayazy unit, but its a loosing prospect. I don’t hit a single Kayazy, and I do some significant damage to Conquest, but its not going to come off the table yet. I’m worried, but not that worried. I have a Kraken with Infernal Machine right behind the banes. With a full boat of focus, 5 attacks, I should be able to wreck the Conquest.I would even be able to sweep and catch some Kayazy!
Except, when I moved up, I was too short of being able to sweep. I managed to catch the Conquest in my 4″ reach, but that 2″ sweep would deny me two full attacks on Conquest, instead of just one. I was not going to kill Conquest this turn. . I kill a bunch of Kayazy, including the Underbooss on the sweep, and the three attacks from the Kraken into the Conquest left it with three boxes, but my 10 Bane Knights and a Kraken were just fed it to the center of the Butchers army. I move Tartarus out to my left, swinging at two Doomreavers to turn them into banes to pad my ranks.
except I am, again, 1/4″ short of one of them. Thats gonna bite me in the ass.
I move Gorman forward to drop an acid bomb on Yuri’s head. I only need a 7+ to kill.
And, 4 pips come up on two dice.
Sighs.
Anyway! I activate the last Coven member, pop my feat, and call it a day.
The turn passes over to Butcher, and I am about to GET it. He heals the Conquest a bit from his Mechanics, moves the Butcher up, Casts Full Throttle, and pops feat. He then moves conquest forward. With his cortex crippled he’s only got two attacks, but its enough. Between Fury and Butchers feat, I was going down. Again, my opponents rolls low, and I get away clean: Conquest only breaks the entire left side at 3d6+6. The Juggernaut, however, finishes the job, in addition taking out the arc node. I’d done some poor positioning. The Doomreavers move in again and threaten the Coven from the left, while Yuri Comes at me from the right.
I have one shot at this. After vengeance (which fails to kill Conquest) I toss Ghostwalk on the last remaining arc node, and send it loping off to find the butcher. I’ve got just enough to cause him a little bit of problems. I hope its enough to stop him in his tracks. I shoot a pair of Stygian Abyss’s at him, and leave him with 12 HP. I move forward the Scarlock and try again. I hit Butcher, and do another 6 damage to him. He’s got 6 left, but its more than enough. My last Bane charges the Conquest and finally takes him down. Its a shallow victory, but I’ll take it.
The end of the game is here, though. Yuri charges into a pair of witches, threshing them both and doing massive damage. The Manhunter who’d been left alive also charges one of the witches who is miraculously alive, and cuts her down to size, leaving me with two. The Kayazy, who have pretty much just run amok through my army, charge the Egregore and kill the last of the Coven.
Killbox is a hellofathing.
At the end of the day, my opponent played a great game, keeping Butcher back and safe, driving Kayazy with Iron Flesh on them into my throat, and encircling me with Doomreavers and Manhunters. While I was rusty at judging distances and placement of models, I don’t think the list I brought would have cut it. I need, in hindsight, more models to cover the advance of the arcnodes and deliver the Kraken. I think, in my haste to play with my new Bane Knights, I didn’t really give enough consideration to the rest of the army.
I think I want to pull out the Banes and Tartarus, and replace with 2 full Mechanithrall units and 2 Necrosurgeons. With the feat and Occultation, I could really get them stuck in there.
What do you think?